in baking, cooking, eating, kayaking, reading, running, snowshoeing, traveling, and just being me.

December 29, 2010

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has been one of the biggest sporting events in Australia for the last 65 years or so. It starts in Sydney at 1:00pm on December 26th, Boxing Day of each year and finishes in Hobart. It is 628 nautical miles of frustration, fear, exhilaration, excitement and more.

The first year hubby come home to Australia with me was 1998. The worst year ever in the history of the race. 6 lives were lost in a storm that decimated the fleet. When Sayonnara sailed in to Hobart as the line honours winner the celebration was muted. There was no champagne etc to greet the crews. It was more relief that they had made it. There was a minute of silence for those who did not.

2006 was the next time we were home over Christmas. And the first few yachts came in around 3am. Dad and I tried to get hubby out of bed to watch the finish, but it was no go.

This year... We were down at the Taste of Tasmania having dinner. According to the official website and the news reports the first boat, Wild Oats, was not expected until 1:00am. Hubby was not sure he could stay up that long. After dinner we were walking back to the car, and there was an announcement over the loud speakers at the dock, that Wild Oats had entered the Derwent River and was expected to cross the finish line at 830pm.

With only 30 mins until the expected finish we decided to wait it out. We walked along to the CSIRO pier with about 50+ other people. The CSIRO pier is right at the finish line. First we saw the news helicopters, then we saw the flotilla of boats start to move and then hubby saw the top of the mainsail and finally we could see Wild Oats. She was still a fair way away. But come up the river fairly quickly and in no time she was crossing the finish line to cheers from the crowd, the canon firing and the horns of every single boat out on the river.

We then walked back round to Constitution dock where all the media were waiting and watched them do their lap of honour. it was not as crowded as we expected. We guess that the earlier than expected arrived (830pm as opposed to 100am) caught quite a few people unaware.

December 25, 2010

We had Christmas lunch at Shaun and Kelly's. We were all there, Mum and Dad, Shaun and Kelly, my Nanna and Dave and I. Christmas is a much more relaxed and informal affair here than it is in Canada. It's not better or worse, just different. This is the third Christmas in 20 years that I've been home for. I love spending Christmas with my family.

Turkey was ate. As was ham and pork, cheese bomb and bread bowl, garlic bread, and pavlova. Bonbons (crackers) were pulled. Silly paper hats were worn. Even sillier Christmas jokes were told. Bubbly was drunk. Gifts were opened. Games were played. A good day was had by all.

The Christmas tree was tiny, but the pile of presents were huge. There was wine, chocolates, books, games,puzzles, t-shirts, jewelry, socks, laughter, tears and more.

We spent the afternoon playing games. It wasn't really warm enough for cricket on the beach, so we played with Hubby's present - Wii Cricket. He doesn't understand the whole concept of cricket. A game that goes for 5 days, where they stop for tea and both teams wear all white. We are trying to indoctrinate him. Let's just say hubby's not very good at bowling or batting.

We interrupted Christmas lunch so that Shaun and Kelly could install their Christmas tree. Yep, we gave Shaun and Kelly a Telly antenna. They were living in the dark ages. Dial-up and snow telly. We fixed the snowy telly, they can deal with the Internet.

Christmas Day is winding down here. (technically it's done at it's after midnight and my dad and I are the only ones still awake). Just as all our friends and family in BC are about to start their Christmas Day.

I hope everyone here and around the world has had or will have, a wonderful Christmas filled with love and laughter, family and friends and that Santa was/is good to you all.

Sunday was our Disneyland day. Our day for the big rides, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain, plus a few of the not so big rides.

The highlight of the day for me was seeing all the Christmas decorations and overlays. It’s a Small World and the Haunted Mansion; both shut down for a month or so before US Thanksgiving and are given a complete makeover for the holidays. I really like the Haunted Mansion Holiday theming based on The Nightmare Before Christmas.

It's a Small World is far from my favourite ride. It has got to be one of the most annoying. But...I do like all the Christmas additions and the lights. The lights are stunning.

Normally Hubby and I don't watch the parades, we take advantage of the shorter queues on the rides, but we did watch the Christmas Fantasy Parade. Mainly because I had been given some premium viewing vouchers. Which meant we didn't have to stake out a spot on the curb hours in advance.

Santa's Reindeer Roundup. Yep all the reindeer are hanging out at Disneyland, having a rest before the big night.

That is not a typing error, in the US they don't use the u in colour. The World of Color is a new attraction at California Adventure. It's not even a year old and it's very popular. While we were at Disney, there were two showings a night. It was quite the palaver to get tickets.

Disney's official description is: The World of Color nighttime water spectacular weaves water, color, fire and light into a kaleidoscope of fantasy and imagination. More than 1,000 jets of water form incredible shapes in time to the music as Disney characters come to life on a shimmering veil of mist.

I didn't get many/any photos, my camera battery died, and I don't have a spare. All 4 photos above were taken by C Kim Miles.

December 22, 2010

or pretty close to it. Although we spent the day in California Adventure we hopped over to Disneyland to have dinner at New Orleans Cafe. It was so good. We all ate too much and had to be rolled down main street afterwards.

excuse the photo, we just discovered a finger print on my camera lens, so everything is out of focus!

Pommes Frites - Traditional French-fried potatoes tossed with Parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley, served with a Cajun spice remoulade. Seriously the best fries I can remember eating. Can we make these at home? Probably but I bet they don't taste as good. Hubby and I shared a basket, Kim and Joanna shared a basket. We could have skipped everything else and just had a basket of Pommes Frites each. Although that wouldn't have been very healthy. Who am I kidding? Not one part of this meal was remotely healthy.

We did other dishes besides the Pommes Frites. Hubby and I split a bowl of Gumbo - A rich, flavorful stew with chicken, andouille sausage and tasso ham, served with Cajun-style "dirty rice":